in Africa since the early 1990s.

Transcription

1 Revenue Administration Reforms in Africa since the early 1990s..and Tax Administration Benchmarking David Kloeden IMF Fiscal Affairs Department

2 Francophone & Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa with apologies to the rest Grouping West Africa Southern Africa Central Africa East Africa 15 Francophone/19 Anglophone Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte I voire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone & Togo Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, & Zimbabwe Cameroon, Central African Rep., Chad, Congo Rep. & Gabon Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda & Zambia

3 Anglophone Indirect, Direct & Trade Tax collections Percent of GDP

4 Francophone: Indirect, Direct & Trade Tax collections Percent of GDP Benin Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Central African R. Chad Congo Cote d'ivoire DRC Gabon Guinea Mali Niger Senegal Togo

5 Anglophone Tax Collection Trend: Mid-1990s to Percent of GDP Tax/GDP 2008 Tax/GDP mid-90s

6 age Francophone - Tax Collection Trend: Mid-1990s to Percent of GDP Ben nin Burkina Faso Burun undi Cameroo oon Central African R. Cha had Cong ngo Cote d'ivoi oire DRC Gabo bon Guine nea Mali Nige ger Senega gal Tog ogo Averag age LIC Averag Tax/GDP 2007 Tax/GDP mid-90s

7 Who has mobilized revenue. Anglophone Francophone Botswana +10.9% Benin +1.5% Ghana + 5.2% Burkina Faso +3.5% Lesotho +22.5% Cameroon +1% Liberia % Chad +5% Malawi + 4.6% DRC +7% Namibia + 6.8% Gabon +8% Nigeria +2.5% Guinea +2% Rwanda +3.7% Mali +5% Sierra Leone +5.6% Niger +5% South Africa +2.3% Swaziland +8.5% Senegal +8% Tanzania +4.2% Togo +3% Uganda + 1.2%

8 and who had flat or lower collections Anglophone Gambia +0.5% Kenya 2.3% Mauritius +0.2% Seychelles 9.4% Zambia 1.0% Zimbabwe 17.7% Francophone Burundi +0.5% Central African R. -1.5% Congo -3% Cote d Ivoire -3%

9 Reform Drivers Mobilize revenue & reduce poverty Modernize administration/improve service Reduce compliance burden Reduce administration costs Facilitate trade and investment Improve integrity

10 Reform Drivers Mobilizing Revenue Fiscal Deficits (2007) Sub-Sahara Africa - Fiscal Position Eritrea Zimbabwe Burundi Guinea-Bissau Malawi Mozambique Rwanda Tanzania Cape Verde Sierra Leone Burkina Faso Ethiopia Ghana Madagascar Niger Mali Comoros Uganda Gambia Zambia DRC Senegal Togo Benin Sao Tome and Principe Kenya Mauritius Liberia Swaziland Cote d Ivoire Namibia Guinea Seychelles Angola Botswana South Africa Cameroon Central African Rep. Lesotho Congo, Rep. of Nigeria Chad Gabon Equatorial Guinea Expenditure Revenues

11 Reform Drivers Improving Efficiency Paying Tax (2009) from best (1 st ) to183rd Mauritius Botswana South Africa Ethiopia Comoros Zambia Seychelles Swaziland Lesotho Rwanda Malawi Ghana Uganda Liberia Sudan Mozambique Namibia Madagascar Gabon Eritrea Tanzania Cape Verde Burundi Nigeria Guinea-Bissau Niger Chad Angola Burkina Faso Côte d'ivoire São Tomé and Principe Congo, Dem. Rep. Mali Zimbabwe Kenya Togo Sierra Leone Equatorial Guinea Benin Guinea Cameroon Senegal Mauritania Gambia, the Central African Republic Congo, Rep.

12 Reform Drivers Improving Efficiency Trading Across Borders (2009):1st to183rd Mauritius Cape Verde Senegal Gambia, the Ghana São Tomé and Principe Togo Seychelles Tanzania Madagascar Guinea-Bissau Liberia Guinea Benin Gabon Comoros Sierra Leone Equatorial Guinea Mozambique Sudan Lesotho Nigeria Uganda Cameroon South Africa Kenya Botswana Namibia Swaziland Ethiopia Zambia Côte d'ivoire Mauritania Chad Congo, Dem. Rep. Eritrea Zimbabwe Mali Malawi Angola Rwanda Niger Burundi Burkina Faso Central African Republic Congo, Rep.

13 Reform Drivers - Improving Integrity Corruption Index (2007) Index of Most to Least Corruption Equatoria al Guinea Guinea epublic of Congo, Dem. Re Zimbabwe Chad Angola Guinea-Bissau Cote D Ivoire Burundi Congo Sier C Central African Moz rra Leone Nigeria Togo Kenya Cameroon Republic Niger Gabon Gambia Uganda Malawi Ethiopia Comoros Zambia Eritrea zambique Senegal Benin Sao Tome and Principe Swaziland Burk Ma Tanzania Mali Liberia kina Faso Lesotho Ghana adagascar Rwanda S So eychelles Namibia uth Africa Mauritius Botswana Australia

14 Topics Revenue Authorities (RA) Value Added Tax VAT Tax Administration Integration Self-Assessment Segmentation Customs Administration

15 Revenue Authorities: History in Anglophone Africa and beyond Ghana , Uganda 1991, Swaziland of 19 Anglo countries now have a form of RA Also Mozambique, Ethiopia and recently Burundi All but two include customs 8 of 17 include non-traditional functions Varied role and relevance of the board RAs now dominate the landscape..

16 The spread of Revenue Authorities across Anglophone Africa Botswana Gambia Ghana > (separate semi-autonomous customs and income tax services) > (new VAT service and Governing Board) Kenya Lesotho Liberia Malawi Mauritius Namibia Nigeria (separate customs and tax services) Rwanda Seychelles Sierra Leone South Africa Swaziland Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

17 Revenue Authorities: Their Impact Claims Findings Best vehicle for reform Reforms without RA Address civil service HR better problems Better services Higher public confidence Reduce corruption Mostly perception of More autonomy stakeholders Independent funding Not followed or flawed But this is only part of the story

18 Value Added Tax VAT Major revenue source particularly on imports Global phenomenon Associated tariff reform 15 of 19 Anglophone Africa countries from1990 Seychelles, Swaziland, Gambia coming, Liberia later 14 of 15 Francophone African countries from 1990 Burundi recently introduced, only DRC with no VAT but planned Single rate common average 15 percent (Anglophone), 18 percent (Francophone) Issues: Low registration thresholds with too many taxpayers Exemptions with weak administration and compliance giving low productivity, especially in Francophone countries

19 VAT Administration Separate department initially, sometimes Customs (Anglophone) Always with tax admin (Francophone) Why not initially integrated with income tax (Anglophone)? Trend now to integrate tax administration, as opposed to separate departments within tax administration

20 How the Tax Admin structure evolved Income Tax Department Sales Tax Department Sales Tax Customs (with Sales Tax) Income Tax Department VAT Department Customs Department Excises Domestic Tax Department Customs Department

21 Integration Tax Type Weaknesses Benefits of Integration Resource duplication Economies of scale Multiple taxpayer contact One-stop shop Uncoordinated audit & Comprehensive audits & enforcement coordinated enforcement Lack of harmonization Harmonized procedures Higher costs Lower costs, better service No single taxpayer view Whole-of-taxpayer of view

22 Self-Assessment VAT was the impetus Income tax still inconsistently self-assessed More effective with: Clear legislation Good taxpayer services Simple filing and payment procedures es Strong collection enforcement Selective risk-based audit Fairly applied penalties Fair and timely dispute resolution b tf fth i it ll ti Afi ti..but few of these prerequisites all present in African countries

23 Taxpayer Segmentation Size related segments: Large businesses, and possibly wealthy individuals Medium-size businesses Small businesses Micro businesses Other segment groupings not primarily size related: Individuals (non-business) Government agencies Non-profit organizations

24 Taxpayer Segmentation: Taxpayer/Revenue Distribution Number of Taxpayers Revenue Contribution Large Business Large: <1% 70+ % Medium business Medium 5 25 % 10 25% Small & Micro business 70 95% Small & Micro: 0 10%

25 Taxpayer Segmentation: begins with... Large Taxpayer Office (LTO): Now in 13 of 19 Anglophone African countries Now in 15 of 15 Francophone African countries Secure 50+ percent of revenue Modernize with: Functional and integrated organization Simplified procedures New approaches risk analysis, self-assessment Computerization

26 Taxpayer Segmentation: and may lead to.. A few countries are now developing dedicated offices and/or programs for the administration of medium-size taxpayers Others have or are developing simplified presumptive regimes for small business below the VAT threshold

27 Customs Administration Still a critical revenue agency in SSA countries: Stagnant/declining duties, but still important revenue Usually collect more than half of gross VAT But the role of customs is evolving, to: Facilitate rather than impede trade Yet, ensure security and trade chain integrity Commonality with tax administration: Often in same organization Revenue Authority Shared concepts self-assessment, segmentation

28 Customs challenges and priorities Challenges Priorities Corruption Stronger commitment t to Complex Procedures Arusha declaration needed Deficient computerization IT effectiveness better when High costs and poor procedures are simplified outcomes Reduced exemptions are Excessive Exemptions key to revenue mobilization Regional/International Updated strategies/skills: obligations value/origin i WTO valuation methods Risk-based more post- release controls

29 African Tax Administration Benchmarking

30 Survey of African Tax Administration Focus on Francophone & Anglophone Countries To test the methodology and process as a pilot exercise to be fine-tuned and later extended Regional balance sought 20 countries surveyed, with 15 respondents: Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia

31 Survey of African Tax Administration Survey covered 9 broad topics, with an average of 4 sub-themes each Responses included: A mix of descriptive and yes/no responses Quantitative data Supporting documentation such as annual reports, strategic plans, and website information. Self-assessed, but cross-checked by IMF knowledge from extensive TA over many years Quality review by respondents to verify information and conclusions

32 Survey Structure 1. Institutional Framework: Finance Ministry unit or Revenue Authority Responsibilities tax, customs, non-tax, etc Tax regimes administered Responsibility to administer i social contributions ti 2. Tax Administration Organization Features: Structured by tax type, functional, segment, hybrid Units for core and support functions Governance arrangements, e.g. internal audit Recent organization reforms Arrangements for large and medium taxpayers

33 Survey Structure. 3. Management, responsibilities and practices: Budget, staffing, decision making powers Performance targets and measures Corporate planning and reporting Taxpayer rights Taxpayer service standards 4. Revenue Collections: By tax type for past three years By taxpayer segment Arrears by tax type and type of taxpayer

34 Survey Structure.. 5. Resources Expenditures for salaries, administration, IT, etc Office network HQ, regions, local, service centers Staff allocation by function 6. Collection/filing mechanisms: Withholding obligations Advanced payment requirements VAT obligations threshold, rates, periodicity, refund arrangements Small Business taxation characteristics of special regime and arrangements, number of taxpayers and collections

35 .Survey Structure 7. Tax Administration Powers Information gathering Authority to search Enforcement of debt collection Penalty and interest t for noncompliance 8. Operational Performance and Metrics: Numbers of registered taxpayers by tax type Methods to pay tax 9. Taxpayer Identification and Computerization: Taxpayer Number how many used and features Use of Information Technology to support admin

36 Survey Report 7 Chapters 1. Revenue Admin Institutional Arrangements 2. Organizational Features 3. Strategic planning and management practices 4. Resourcing revenue administration functions 5. Revenue performance 6. Filing, assessment, and payment systems 7. Legal and administrative powers

37 African Tax Administration Benchmarking Next Steps: Presentation of the Survey Findings Planning for the next steps to broaden country coverage and deepen surveyed topics Benchmarking ownership and leadership by the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) Joint ATAF Korea Conference on Domestic Resource Mobilization in Cape Town, April 4 7, 2011